Is she a voice of reason, or a lefty response to Fox News' conservative pundits? Whatever your take, Rachel Maddow, 37, of MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show, is making waves. Her ratings are up 24 percent over last year among 25- to 54-year-olds as she focuses on issues dear to her viewers' hearts, from the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy to restrictions on abortion rights. I talked to the unabashedly nerdy anchor about how it feels to have her hard work pay off.

KATIE COURIC: Since Keith Olbermann left MSNBC, you're being called "the face of the network." What does that mean?

RACHEL MADDOW: I don't know.

KATIE COURIC: Obviously you're very moved by the title.

RACHEL MADDOW: I still think of myself as the new kid, even though I've been on the air for two and a half years. But my job is the same as it ever was, which is to make 9:00 P.M. as good as I can.

KATIE COURIC: What do you think is most surprising about working in cable news?

RACHEL MADDOW: I don't know. I feel different talking to you about this than I would to anyone else. So my answer to anyone who's not Katie Couric… [Addressing Katie] Can you not listen?

KATIE COURIC: [Laughs.] Earmuffs!

RACHEL MADDOW: I was going to say that what's weird about cable is that people get really engaged with news hosts as brands. But I guess that was really a hallmark of your career, too, on the networks. No matter what you're talking about, people wanted to know more about what you thought about it, because they are interested in you as a person.

KATIE COURIC: It's a hinky balance, no?

RACHEL MADDOW: Yes. And I don't want to insert myself into the story. I just want to give a useful analysis of it to help people come to their own conclusions. It's why I have a conveyor belt of gray blazers—I try to look exactly the same every day. Don't focus on what I'm wearing. Focus on what's coming out of my face. [Laughs.] Besides, I knew that I was never going to compete on the pretty-girl-on-cable front.

KATIE COURIC: I haven't seen you in a sleeveless dress and a lot of lip gloss.

RACHEL MADDOW: There's not a lot of jewelry going on.

KATIE COURIC: But seriously, I feel like it's very retro on cable-news shows now.

RACHEL MADDOW: It's un-businesslike. … But there's an interesting question in there: If you make a decision about trying to succeed on the basis of your looks, is it less objectifying than if it's somebody else's decision?

KATIE COURIC: Yeah, if you own your sexuality.

RACHEL MADDOW: Yeah, and then put it on TV for ratings.

KATIE COURIC: Speaking of ratings, how much attention do you pay to yours? Do you care?

RACHEL MADDOW: Yes. We're ratings-driven or ratings-conscious…. But there's no way to tweak your content in order to goose ratings. You do what you're good at and let people follow you. So we obsess about the ratings, but we don't do things differently because of them. It's sort of a stupid system.

KATIE COURIC: Does being gay influence your choice of subjects and how you approach them?

RACHEL MADDOW: Well, I've never done this job as a straight person.

KATIE COURIC: I know. I don't think every night when I do the news, I am a heterosexual woman; how am I going to handle this issue? But I am a woman, and sometimes that impacts what stories I want to do and how much attention I give them.

RACHEL MADDOW: But if you were a feminist dude, maybe you'd make the same choices. And if I were a pro-gay-rights straight person, maybe I'd be making the same decisions too. I don't feel there's anything about my experience of being gay that gives me more insight into "don't ask, don't tell," for example, than anybody else. What does is my understanding of the military.

KATIE COURIC: Because your dad was an Air Force captain.

RACHEL MADDOW: Yes, he was. But also I'm just interested in the stuff. I mean, there are haters who, every time we cover anything that has anything to do with gay rights, will say, "Oh, you're only covering this because you're a homo." But whatever. They also make fun of my blazers.

KATIE COURIC: You're known to be very prepared and to read tons of material before every show. What drives you?

RACHEL MADDOW: Fear of failure. It's not that I believe a segment will be better because I read those extra 20 pages. It's because I'm worried that if I don't, I'll say something wrong. It's negative motivation, which makes for a high-stress atmosphere.

KATIE COURIC: Have you ever done anything where you were like, "Ugh, I can't believe I said that"?

RACHEL MADDOW: All the time. We run big, ostentatious, flagrant corrections where I all but whip myself on the air. [Laughs.]

KATIE COURIC: How do you feel about online mud fights you see in the comments sections?

RACHEL MADDOW: I think it's both annoying and beneficial that there's so much freedom online. But I try to insulate my dad from it—he's obsessed with what everybody says about me—and my partner, who gets a lot of the hate mail. I try to protect them from things that will make them worry. Especially the threats.

KATIE COURIC: Do you consider yourself a journalist, or a commentator?

RACHEL MADDOW: This is going to sound like a cop-out, but I really just consider myself a cable-TV host. I really believe in trying to increase the amount of useful information in the world and in being accurate in the sense that you can take what I say to the bank, even if you disagree with me.

KATIE COURIC: How do you think President Obama's doing?

RACHEL MADDOW: I don't want to be president. Like, "Today your job is Libya, Japan, unemployment, the government shutdown—oh, and by the way, Yemen, Syria and Jordan. That's your job today. And you'd better get it right."

KATIE COURIC: Nice try. How do you think President Obama's doing? [Laughs.]

RACHEL MADDOW: [Laughs.] I think he has been skilled and farsighted in a lot of the stuff that he's done. And in other things, unskilled and not farsighted. On balance I'd say that he is doing most of what he said he'd do.

KATIE COURIC: What's in your iPod and on your DVR right now?

RACHEL MADDOW: I finally got a television, but the cable thingy doesn't work. But we never watch anyway. Anything I really want I can find online.

RACHEL MADDOW: Oh, this is really embarrassing. But because of the nuclear power plant disaster in Japan, I started listening to the Feynman lectures, these talks by a physics professor at Caltech from the sixties.

KATIE COURIC: Like Bill Nye the Science Guy?

RACHEL MADDOW: He's, like, the original Science Guy, except that he won the Nobel Prize in physics. It's really helpful in terms of explaining stuff that you don't really understand. Yeah, Richard Feynman—ay-oh!

KATIE COURIC: Wow. All right. Who is someone you'd love to have on the show?

RACHEL MADDOW: Osama bin Laden or one of his henchmen. I would love to have a conversation with them. I would also like to kill em with a dull spoon, but I'm not supposed to say that.